To the New York Times : “Annual monetary losses for natural disasters are expected to rise to $185 billion worldwide by the end of the century, even without factoring in the anticipated negative impacts of climate change.”
” With climate change included, the global annual losses could increase by anywhere from $28 billion to $68 billion. But governments can drastically reduce these losses and rising mortality rates (…)”
This report from the United Nations and the World Bank shows once again that acting now on protecting the environment would enable us to protect ourselves. Business as usual is a dead-end…
The article goes on :
(…) by implementing preventive systems and infrastructure changes that are much cheaper and simpler than the post-disaster cleanup that has been drawing so much public funds recently.
That’s the message the report’s authors are hoping to get out to policymakers in a year characterized by some of the largest natural disasters in recorded history.
From the city-sized death toll stemming from Haiti’s January earthquake to the 20 million people hit from mass flooding in Pakistan over the summer, the primary lesson being transmitted by 70 experts researching natural disasters over the past year is that disasters are largely caused by a series of man-made mistakes that build up over time.
They lead to massive failures when a natural triggering event occurs.
Climate change throws more uncertainty into the equation, but proper planning and prevention will likewise reduce the added losses that shifting climates and extreme weather are feared to bring, the organizations conclude.
To read out more on this new report highlighting the importance of quick and important action, please check out this link or download the report.